Despite a talented cast and a compelling plot, Hulu’s Under the Bridge is not easy to watch. But it should be required viewing for adolescents and parents who need to understand the devastating consequences of bullying. That the series is based on a true story makes what unfolds even more horrific. That the events occurred in 1997 in Saanich, British Columbia, not the U.S., shows how bullying among young people has spread around the world.

Under the Bridge is based on the true crime book by Rebecca Godfrey, who is played in the series by Riley Keough. Academy Award nominee Lily Gladstone, plays Cam Bentland, who was once Godfrey’s best friend and is now a police officer. Rebecca, still scarred by the drowning death of her young brother, Cam, now lives in New York and has not been back to Saanich  for ten years. She’s returned to write a book about the troubled girls in the area, never anticipating that she will be writing about so much more. Reena Virk disappears after attending a party and is found drowned, her body showing evidence that she was brutally beaten. The police zero in on the young people who attended the party and took part in assaulting Reena.

Josephine (Chloe Guidry) Photo by: Darko Sikman/Hulu

A prime suspect is Josephine (Chloe Guidry), the queen bee, ruling over a group of girls who will do anything to please her. Jo seems an unlikely leader. Kicked out of her mother’s house, she’s living in the Seven Oaks Youth Home for foster children. Like all bullies, there’s something magnetic about Jo. The foster home allows her freedoms the other girls dream about. She smokes, both cigarettes and weed, hangs out with bikers, and envisions herself as a female John Gotti, setting up a mafia-style gang called CMC (Cripes Mafia Cartel). She taps into the insecurities adolescent girls feel about themselves to offer them a place where they can find acceptance. But that support can be withdrawn at any time, leaving Jo’s followers constantly seeking ways to prove their loyalty. Often that means singling out one girl for some form of abuse.

Reena (Vritika Gupta) Photo by: Bettina Strauss/Hulu

Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta) makes an easy victim. She lives with her Canadian-Indian parents, uncle, and siblings. Like Reena, her mother, Suman (the marvelous Archie Panjabi), once struggled with being accepted and found a community when she became a Jehovah’s Witness.

Suman (Archie Panjabi) Photo by: Darko Sikman/Hulu

Following that religion’s beliefs, she sets strict standards for Reena, not allowing her to shave her legs or wear makeup. Despite those restrictions, Reena lives in a lovely home with parents who care about her. But her constant battles with her mother ignite her rebellion and catapult her into Jo’s orbit. 

Dusty (Aiyana Goodfellow), Kelly (Izzy G.) and Josephine (Chloe Guidry)Photo by: Darko Sikman/Hulu

One of Reena’s best friends, Dusty Pace (Aiyana Goodfellow), is also a foster child and lives at Seven Oaks with Jo. Kelly Ellard (Izzy G) lives with her wealthy family, yet considers herself Jo’s BFF and spends most of her time at Seven Oaks. Reena longs to escape living with her parents’ rules. Jo is quick to manipulate Reena, suggesting that she report her father for abusing and molesting her. He’s arrested and she’s sent to Seven Oaks. However, once Reena is there, Jo immediately shuts her out. 

In an attempt to retaliate, Reena makes anonymous calls spreading rumors that Jo has AIDS and is pregnant. When Jo finds out, she’s determined to punish Reena. In a performance that could win an Oscar, Jo assures Reena she’s not angry and invites her to a party. Jo riles up the young people and they chase Reena and assault her under the bridge. Warren Glowatski (Javon “Wanna” Walton) doesn’t know Reena, but dealing with his own anger issues, and egged on by the crowd, he delivers several brutal kicks to her head and body.

Cam (Lily Gladstone) Photo by: Bettina Strauss/Hulu

Reena’s parents report her missing, but only Cam takes their concerns seriously. Police Chief Roy Bentland (Matt Craven) wants to treat Reena as a runaway. When Reena’s body turns up, he realizes his mistake, but doesn’t make it any easier for Cam to investigate. Cam was once a foster child herself and lived at Seven Oaks until she was adopted by the Bentlands. Being at Seven Oaks again gets Cam thinking about her own background and what she learns will threaten her relationship with Roy.

Rebecca (Riley Keough) and Warren (Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton) Photo by: Darko Sikman/Hulu

At one point, Cam teases Rebecca that she’s trying to write another In Cold Blood. Rebecca dismisses Cam’s comment, but like Truman Capote, she becomes enmeshed in the lives of the young people she’s writing about, particularly Warren. Back in her parents’ home, she misses her brother and even allows Warren to wear one of her brother’s suits to go to a dance. Until the end, she believes in his innocence, attending his trial and visiting him in prison. But when Warren wants her to attend a therapy session at the prison, where he will finally reveal what happened on that night and what he did, she refuses to go, perhaps afraid of what she will find out. 

Those who were involved in Reena’s death are punished, but not equally. Rebecca finishes her book and it becomes a bestseller. Reena’s parents become advocates for anti-bullying programs.

The women actors excel in this Hulu series. Keough is building up an impressive resume, perhaps finally shedding the nepo baby label (she’s Elvis’ granddaughter). Gladstone shows she truly earned that Oscar nomination and is just getting started. Panjabi, who won a Primetime Emmy Award for her work in The Good Wife, is always mesmerizing to watch. Here she displays the emotional agony of a mother who thought she was protecting her daughter, but only succeeded in driving her away.

The young actors so nail their personas as mean girls that it’s hard to believe they weren’t plucked from a high school and just told to be themselves. Learning their back stories adds to the complicated nature of bullying. Often the bullies have been victims, abandoned by the adults in their lives, and left to fend for themselves in the gauntlet that has become adolescence.

The events in this series occurred in 1997, 27 years ago, before the internet took bullying to an entirely new level. The Kids Online Safety Act, which has passed the Senate and will now go to the House, would hold tech companies responsible for keeping minors safe online. The legislation has a good chance of being passed into law. Whether it will truly help curb bullying online is a big question. The internet is still, for all intents and purposes, a wild west show. And anyone determined to bully someone, will find a way to do that. What truly must change is the cultural climate being created by some of our leaders. When they are applauded for bullying others, even awarded with being elected to high office, they set an example that young people are quick to follow. It will take more than a village to change this behavior. It will take a country.

Under the Bridge can be streamed on Hulu.

Top photo: Rebecca (Riley Keough) and Cam (Lily Gladstone). Photo by: Darko Sikman/Hulu